By David Frank, Managing Editor, Massachusetts Lawyers' Weekly

Following Wednesday, when the James "Whitey" Bulger trial took a back seat to the arrest of Aaron Hernandez and the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, one had to wonder what was in store for Thursday.

In addition to the much-anticipated testimony in the Bulger trial of John Morris — the disgraced former head of the Boston FBI office — Thursday saw Hernandez appear in Superior Court for a bail review, and the indictment of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

How's that for an encore?

I promise not to belabor the point, but it's worth noting that the U.S. Attorney's Office held a press conference on the Tsarnaev indictment at the same time Morris was on the stand. So it's OK to broadcast a press conference in a federal courthouse about a federal case being prosecuted by federal prosecutors, but it's not OK to broadcast a federal trial in a federal courthouse? Go figure.

This wasn't Morris' first time testifying in a Bulger-related matter, but it was the first time with Bulger actually in the room. Given that ex-FBI agent and now-convicted felon John Connolly isn't talking, Morris is the most direct link between FBI corruption and Bulger.

While the Morris testimony was riveting and a nice change from the painstakingly slow examination of James Marra, the thing most people seemed to be talking about Thursday was Bulger's foul mouth. For the second time this week, Bulger supposedly dropped an F-bomb in the courtroom. Unlike the first time, which allegedly happened when the jury was not in the room, the elderly defendant reportedly used the bad word with the jury present and the lawyers at sidebar.

Bulger may be a fan of four-letter words, but he's not big on former Norfolk County DA Bill Delahunt. Testimony Thursday revealed that Bulger hated the man.

On direct examination, Morris went out of his way to try to paint himself as someone who was caught in the middle. He repeatedly said that he was not only Connolly's supervisor, but he also was his best friend. I'm not sure if this was designed to make Morris look sympathetic in front of the jury or to minimize his misconduct. If so, mission not accomplished.

Although Morris told jurors he took full responsibility for accepting bribes from Bulger and Stephen Flemmi, he spent a lot of time on the stand pointing the proverbial finger in Connolly's direction. Connolly's an easy target. After all, the guy's sitting in a Florida prison cell far away from the action at the Moakley Courthouse.

Former Senate President William Bulger's name was twice been mentioned by Morris on direct examination. One has to believe that was no accident. Although Billy hasn't attended the trial yet, his son Christopher, the embattled former deputy commissioner and legal counsel of the state Probation Department, put in an appearance Thursday.

With all the leading questions asked by prosecutor Fred Wyshak, it was difficult at times to tell who was testifying: Wyshak or Morris. At one point, defense attorney Hank Brennan objected to three Wyshak questions in a row, all on grounds that the prosecutor was improperly leading the witness. All three objections were sustained.

When it comes to cooperating witnesses like Morris, the goal from the prosecution's standpoint is to try to corroborate his testimony through other witnesses and evidence presented at trial. The point of his testimony isn't to have the jury like him, which would be impossible here; it's to have jury believe him.

There are lots of different ways for a witness to testify that someone isn't being truthful. Words like "lie," "inaccurate" or "misstatement" often do the trick. Morris added a new one Thursday when he was asked whether some of Connolly's reports fell short of the truth. He said: "I think there was some puffery in John Connolly's reports."

Although Brennan handled the cross of Morris, both he and co-counsel J.W. Carney Jr. lodged objections during direct examination. Typically, the lawyer conducting the cross makes the objections. Were Carney and Brennan doing that on purpose to keep the government on its toes?

Wyshak seems to have little patience for the defense. He barked at Carney when the defense lawyer asked him to identify which exhibit he was asking a witness to read from.

Technical snafus aren't just a state court phenomenon. The trial was delayed this morning due to a technical problem that impacted the court reporter. Without a court reporter, you have no record. Without a record, you have no trial. That was as good a reason as any for a 15-minute delay.

A maid who cleaned the home of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez has testified at his murder trial that she saw him "messing with" the security camera in his basement the day after the killing.